@goingnutsmom “Biracial International student (half East Asian, half American), have lived in Chicago, Middle East, and Japan”
^ Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you are an international student. That’s making an assumption.
OP now says US citizen.
I think if there’s this confusion, she needs to catch up on her research into the basics, as well as these colleges.
^ Agree about that line. You have to be very careful with that because depending on how you phrase it, it can come out sounding trite/shallow.
Too bad about the fear of the south. You are a demographic that would be sought after. And merit would be given out for you.
Look at automatic merit for your stats for your safety school.
Clarification on the financial aid- My parents can only afford about $12k a year. Also, I’m not an international student, I would be applying as a domestic student because of my US Citizenship (despite living outside of the US).
@citymama9 wow, thank you so much!
@tk21769 I ran the NPC for Macalester and it was definitely affordable. I’ve never actually been to Florida, but I’ll check out New College of Florida, thank you for your help!
@“Erin’s Dad” Ok, I’ll move Reed up to reaches… I probably have too many reaches now, right? or is this a good number considering I might have a chance?
Tried the NPC for Lewis and Clark and it cost wayyy too much. I love Portland, but it’ll have to go off the list!
Wow, I looked up Carleton and I really love it! Definitely looks like it has the nerdy vibe I’m looking for. I also love Minnesota! Thanks so much for that suggestion. I’ll think about adding it to my list. Thank you!
@porcupine98 Why wouldn’t Macalester be a safety? My dad found a website that says with my ACT score I have a 77% chance of getting in…but these stats are probably BS-y http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/35-on-the-act/
I visited a bunch of the ivies this summer and I liked Brown, Penn, and Yale the most. However, the more I read about Penn it seems to be more of a pre-professional type school, which I don’t really enjoy… thinking about taking it off the list. I just really loved Philly though! Princeton is on there because it has an incredible Philosophy department, and Harvard is there because it’s Harvard, even though I didn’t get great vibes during my visit. Maybe I should take it off the list as well.
Oberlin and Wesleyan are both great schools. Would they be matches for me? Do they have good financial aid?
Thank you!
@ClassicRockerDad Thank you! It’s hard, because of my financial aid situation even for my safeties I need schools that will be able to give me lots of aid, which tend to be smaller private schools. I could get merit aid at a less selective school, but how would I prevent those we-recognize-that-we’re-your-safety rejections?
Is your suggestion to apply early to a safety (Is Tulane a safety??), ensure good aid, and then add more matches for regular decision and hope for the best?
Bryn Mawr is a great school. I’ll think about adding it to my list. thank you so much for all this info!
@Midwestmomofboys I looked at the CTCL schools, and I liked St. Olaf and Lawrence University. Would these be good safety schools for me? This might be a stupid question, but what do you mean by “show interest”? Apply early? Call the admissions office? I ran the NPC, and I will be able to afford the schools on my list.
Everyone, thank you so much for your advice! I definitely have a lot more colleges to think about now, which will hopefully create a more realistic list.
And run net price calculators for the colleges.
@ClarinetDad16 @goingnutsmom @lookingforward Sorry about my confusing wording, I said I was an international student because I currently attend an international high school in Japan. I would be applying as a domestic student because of my US citizenship.
If you can address your fear of the south- look into Trinity University in San Antonio. They have excellent merit for your stats.
@lookingforward thanks for the advice. My counselors often say that as well.
@goingnutsmom Yeah, it’s definitely a pretty irrational fear. I’ll look into Rice more. I have a few friends going there, it’s a great school!
How do I figure out which schools give automatic merit? Is there a list out there somewhere of schools like that?
There are very few less selective schools that would reject you based on seeing you as using them as a safety. These schools would try to woo you.
There are school that are more selective such as Tulane, CaseWestern, and Carnegie Mellon that are very keen on you showing a lot of interest. These schools do not like to be seen as a back up school. But I would not classify them as less selective.
^ Sorry, I meant applying as an international student…
I think showing interest means getting in touch with the admissions person who covers your area. If they come to your school meet them, and if not, send them an email with questions. Visit the campus, go on a tour, try to get an interview, send a thank you letter after the interview, maybe sit in on a class, talk to a professor in an area you’re interested in, etc. Those are examples of showing interest
It depends on your risk-tolerance.
That estimate may or may not be based on a representative sample of recent, accurate data.
Even if it is, schools like Macalester don’t base their decisions on stats alone.
I’d be skeptical that someone can generate a reliable prediction from test scores alone.
“77%” surely is an overly precise number.
For several peer schools (Barnard, Colby, Colorado College, Grinnell, Oberlin) the collegesimply.com estimate is in the 50%-70% range. Macalester is similar to those schools in average SAT scores and HS class rank.
Especially for expensive colleges with holistic admissions, before even taking financial aid into account, that range doesn’t look “safe” to me.
Tufts might be a match to consider - near Boston - small, great vibe and high intellect but kids enjoy themselves it seems. You might want to get the book “Colleges That Change Lives” which highlights some lesser known, higher acceptance rate colleges that are focused on undergraduates. Many of the schools I would not known about but now will check out!
What @tk21769 said about Macalester and holistic admissions. It’s a great school, and a good one to have in the mix, but since they accept only 34% of applicants, “safety” is a little strong. Match/low match maybe? Among other things, a school that is that selective and practices holistic admissions is also going to be sensitive to interest and yield. Not saying you wouldn’t get in, just that you shouldn’t count on it.
ALSO, and this is extremely important: If your parents can only afford $12K a year, the meaning of “safety” changes significantly. You need schools where you can BANK on having enough financial aid. I’m not familiar with Macalester’s financial aid practices, but this might steer you more in the direction of places with guaranteed aid for certain stats and/or schools that have a documented history of providing a certain amount of merit aid for high stats kids. You’ll find a number of the latter amongst the CTCL schools.
I believe Oberlin offers some merit aid (a few kids in our orbit have received nice offers), Wesleyan not so much. I don’t know how good they are with need-based aid. Both are selective schools. In our area, Wesleyan is a reach for anyone because they get so many applicants. From other areas, maybe not as challenging.
You need a school that will meet 100% need. Have you run the calculators for various schools?
Do they approach your family’s budget?
Wesleyan has a relative handful of merit-based scholarships, mainly for international students from the Pacific rim:
https://wesleyan.edu/admission/international_students/freeman.html
The newest is named in honor of the Broadway musical “Hamilton”, two of whose principals graduated from Wesleyan:
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-wesleyan-hamilton-prize-0616-20160615-story.html
In terms of need-based FA, Wesleyan is pretty generous once you have been selected to attend (only 17.5% of this year’s entering class made it through ED and RD combined); families with incomes below $60k can expect to graduate with -0- debt.
Tufts has an acceptance rate of 14%. It is a reach, not a match.
And Mac should not be a safety. Is there’s anything selective colleges hate, it’s being used as a safety, and if they get the idea that you’re doing that, you’ll be rejected. The CTCL (not counting Reed, since it should really be removed from the list at this point) schools with better financial aid (like Clark U, maybe New College of FL) might be safeties. Are there affordable in-state public schools you would actually attend?
There’s also always the yolasite auto-merit schools:
Apply for philosophy - will be interesting (not many would-be philosophy majors, regardless of what you end up majoring in. Indicates a turn of mind that may interest colleges).
St Olaf is very big on things “international” so your international background would definitely help. It’s serious, slightly nerdy, but not as intense/nerdy as Carleton.
Your profile screams Carleton actually. 
They’re both in the same town so if you visit on, you can visit the other.
Dickinson is another one where your international background would be deemed especially interesting.
Make sure to demonstrate interest a both (fill out the “request info” form, for instance, and click on the emails they send you).
Reach:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Brown
Penn => doesn’t seem to fit your profile
UChicago
Swarthmore
Amherst
Williams
Reed
(Why not Middlebury?)
Match => you need a couple more matches. Barnard? Kenyon? Bryn Mawr? Mount Holyoke
Wellesley
Grinnell
Macalester
Dickinson
St Olaf (lowmatch/need to show interest)
Safety:
Earlham? (if you show interest)
- your home state’s flagship(s)’ Honors College(s)
UAlabama University Fellows (full tuition guaranteed)
There is no 77% at a highly competitive holistic. Just look at the Brown and Princeton tables showing high stats kids rejected. You need the ‘everything’ these elites want. Then they balance your geo location, possible major, etc.
Helps to have an idea, beyond stats, of what that ‘everything’ is.